


Cave of Two (Enemies to Friends to) Lovers

by sappho_and_stars



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Deviates From Canon, Gen, M/M, and anger, and g l o w i n g lights, lots of, omg im so excited, secret tunnel au, there's gonna be lots of confusion, this is my first fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25981180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sappho_and_stars/pseuds/sappho_and_stars
Summary: Zuko and Iroh are on the run from Azula. But instead of rushing off to hide in a random Earth Kingdom town, Iroh decides to see if he can get help from some old friends. Their first stop? The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu. Unbeknownst to them, the Gaang is also traversing through the one safe pathway to the city, the not-so-aptly-named Secret Tunnel. When the two groups meet, Zuko and Sokka get stuck together on the same side of a cave-in, and they have to work together to find their way out.- or -I wanted to write a Secret Tunnel fic where Sokka and Zuko are stuck together, and here it is :')
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 194





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi! so this is my first fic e v e r, and i'm pretty excited! i've been thinking about this au idea for like a month now, and i've been working on bits and pieces of it but i figured it'd be most helpful for my own writing purposes to post it in chapters instead of all at once. i have the entire story plot planned out already, but given that it's my first fic i'm not sure how long it'll be before i finish it all! anyways, thanks for listening to my rambling :') enjoy!

If anyone were to ask — not that anyone ever had, but if anyone _were_ to ask — there were about seventeen separate times Sokka might have pissed off the universe enough to give it a personal vendetta against him. Not that he was keeping track.

(He was.)

But in his past thirty seconds of contemplation, nothing, not one of those seventeen things, not even all seventeen of them _together_ , did Sokka think could justify his current predicament. And, what with him being the plan guy and all, he’d compiled a list of everything that made his current predicament so very clearly the universe’s personal decision to torture him. It was thirty bullet points long. (One for every second of contemplation.)

  * Being stuck in the (cursed?) secret love cave with: 
    * Zero (0) exits in sight.
    * Five (5) singing troupe members playing an inane and unnecessarily loud rendition of “Secret Tunnel.”
    * One (1) hyperactive lemur screaming nonsense into his ear.
    * One (1) old man sitting cross-legged on the ground, taking sips of tea.
    * One (1) kid sister flinging water and ice in the air.
    * One (1) kid Avatar shouting at everyone to stay calm.
    * One (1) grouchy, easily angered, positively crazed fire bending maniac shooting flames at them all.
    * One (1) panicking ten-ton, six-legged beast, roaring at the flames.
    * One (1) ceiling that oh _shit_ —



“SOKKA! LOOK OUT!”

The words are barely out of Aang’s mouth before Sokka finds himself flying backwards on a blast of wind, ears pummeled by the sound of a rocky ceiling crashing to the ground. He _slams_ into something with a shout and so much force it feels like all the air’s been pushed out of his lungs, which is not _at all_ helped by the dust stirring into his nostrils as the falling rocks pound sand and dirt into cough-inducing clouds.

Sokka groans. If he makes it out alive, he’s going to need, like, a _week’s_ worth of massages after this. He braces his hand against his forehead, pressing gingerly against the frantic pulsing just beneath his skin. Okay. Great. Make that a week’s worth of massages _and_ a week to recover from this pounding headache. A shivering Momo wraps himself around Sokka’s leg, and for a moment, Sokka is happy to know he's not alone this side of the cave-in. It would be pretty awful to be stuck here by himself, he reasons, but then Momo starts waving his lemur arms and jumping on Sokka's leg and chittering and making his headache _so much worse_.

“Momo,” Sokka moans, trying to shove the lemur off of him, “not right now, okay, buddy? Just give me… a minute… just a minute, okay….” That’s all he needs, he isn't asking for much. A minute to recover… and after that he could panic for the rest of the day, for the rest of the week, if he really needs to. But Momo _refuses_ to give Sokka a minute and instead starts _screaming_ in his ear, and Sokka grits his teeth and decides he has _just about had it_ with this day, with the singing troupe and this cursed hole in the ground and his pounding headache and Momo’s yelling, so he angrily wrenches himself upwards while trying to kick Momo off his leg.

“Momo!” he yells, “Get! Off!” But Momo just squeaks louder and _digs_ his little hands into Sokka’s leg, knocking Sokka off balance enough that he falls down again, landing with an _oof!_ on what is, most definitely and unfortunately, a human body that grunts in pain and almost immediately snarls, “Get _off of me_.”

Sokka feels his stomach drop nearly as fast as the ceiling just had, and then he _shrieks_ , shooting to his feet as Momo starts shrieking, too. He sprints to the cave-in to desperately start throwing rocks into the air. 

“No, no no no no _no no no no no no no_ this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, _this can’t be happening!_ ”

“SOKKA! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“KATARA!” Sokka wants to sob in relief at the sound of his sister’s voice. “I’m not hurt, I don’t think! But Katara — He’s here. With me. I’m stuck with him. _It’s Zuko!_ ”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again!! thank you all so much for your kudos and comments; they've brought me much joy during the past few weeks. the second chapter took a lot longer to finish than i was expecting, but here it is!
> 
> \- edit - i just read through it again (on 9/13/20) and made a bunch of edits!! don't mind me haha :>

No sooner have the words left Sokka’s mouth than Katara lets out a shout, and the rock pile in front of him starts trembling from what he can only assume (hope?) is a series of attacks from his sister’s newly master-trained and terrifying waterbending.

“Don’t worry, Sokka!” Katara yells as the _slap_ of water against rock echoes throughout the cave, “we’re going to get you out of there!”

Sokka jumps backwards, dropping the handful of rocks he was prepared to dig through as relief floods him and takes the edge off the pounding in his skull. “Oh thank —”

“SOKKA!” Aang screeches — and there it is again, his never-ending headache — “Don’t go anywhere! We’re gonna rescue you!”

Sokka starts so strongly that Momo leaps off his shoulder with an angry squawk, but Sokka will have to apologize later — Momo still owes him four berries from the time Sokka saved him from an eagle-snake, so the apology can wait, he reasons — but _where_ does Aang think Sokka’s going to go? Backwards, so he can fall into Zuko’s arms? Sokka grimaces. 

“Aang,” Sokka calls, “I don’t —”

“Need your little friends to rescue you?” an angry and angst-ridden pyro-maniac snarls from behind him, and Sokka lets out a little (manly and warrior-like) shriek of surprise.

“KATARA!” he shouts, pulling out Boomerang and jumping into a defensive stance, “I’m ready for that rescue anytime now! I’ve got a little problem over here!”

****Sokka _really_ hopes Momo, who he can hear chattering somewhere in the darkness around him, has his back, because Zuko does _not_ look very happy to see him and —

“Oh, I can give you a problem,” Zuko hisses, both of his fists rapidly becoming encased in balls of flames that stretch frantic shadows across the cave walls — _are those shadows mocking me?_ Sokka thinks briefly, wildly —

Zuko lets out a roar and Sokka grips tightly to Boomerang — “AANG!” Sokka shouts, “MOMO! KATARA!” — there’s a burst of fire, of heat — it rushes so close to his face, so close — Sokka stumbles backwards, falling towards the cave-in with a yell —

“ZUKO!” shouts a new voice. It’s definitely not Aang, and it’s definitely not Katara, but who could Zuko know in that traveling troupe of singers? Maybe —

“UNCLE!” Zuko yells, dropping his fire and shoving past Sokka, “Uncle! Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“I’m alright, Nephew!” the man (Zuko’s uncle?) calls back. “These kind nomads and I are going to find our way out of the tunnels together!”

A cheer goes up on the other side of the cave-in. “Yeah, brother!” another new voice says happily, “We’ll make it out through the power of love!”

“And song!” adds another voice. The singers let out whoops of agreement, and Zuko’s uncle laughs along heartily. “ _And_ the power of tea!” 

There’s cheering at this, and a loud strumming sound — Sokka thinks he hears one man bellow the words _"a_ _nd tea"_ in some horrendous semblance of singing that makes him fervently wish for an invention with the ability to take away his hearing for a minute or two, and maybe erase his memory of the whole event while he's at it — but then there’s a very familiar sound, a sound that can only come from a _very_ familiar sky bison, and Sokka's eyes go wide. Zuko's uncle lets out a booming laugh. “Oh! Yes! The Avatar’s bison is with us, too!”

Sokka presses a hand to his temple. This is _bad_. If Appa is with Zuko's uncle... they need to stay on Zuko's uncle's good side, and by extension, _Zuko's_ good side, to ensure Zuko and his uncle don't have any excuse to hurt Appa. But does the maniac even _have_ a good side? If he doesn't... 

Sokka groans. They could be in a worse situation than he first thought they were, and what's more, he's _sure_ Aang and Katara aren't thinking of that. They never do, but could he ever really expect them to? They are still kids, after all. Both terrifyingly powerful, but still kids.

Sokka shakes his head. His nerves are frayed, there's an ache spreading through his bones, and he can _barely_ _think_ with this blinding headache. He hears Appa roar again — “maybe I didn’t get the short end of the stick after all,” he mumbles to himself — and he hears Momo squeak in agreement (at least, Sokka _hopes_ it's agreement. He's not sure where Momo stands right now.) from somewhere in the darkness. But because the universe apparently takes infinite delight in playing new games in which Sokka suffers, he immediately learns by way of Zuko's screeched "ARGH!" and the resulting burst of fire that lights up the cave, that Momo has _latched himself onto Zuko's leg_ , his little lemur hands curled around Zuko's left calf, lemur eyes wide with the sudden flash of fire.

Sokka watches Zuko hop around the cave on one leg, trying to shake Momo off with shouts and the occasional burst of red-hot flames. “Yeah," he says, "I _definitely_ got the short end of the stick.”

“I will _end you,_ Water Tribe!” Zuko shouts, making a grab for Momo that leads Momo to bounce up to Zuko's head and pull at his (suddenly short and ponytail-less?) hair. 

"His _name_ is Momo," Sokka calls back, gripping Boomerang more tightly as he privately decides to _never_ share his berries with Momo again, "And _my_ name is Sokka. _Learn it_."

“Zuko!" calls Zuko's uncle, "Do not hurt him, do you hear me?" Zuko pauses, his fists still sparking, Momo still perching at his head. "Do not forget the events that brought us here! You must promise me, nephew!”

“ _Uncle._ I —”

“Do not hurt him, Zuko!”

A strange expression flits across Zuko's face, and he shoots Sokka a glare, which Sokka returns only too gladly. Momo hisses from where he's still sitting on Zuko's hair, and Sokka glares at him, too, for good measure.

Zuko doesn't look away from Sokka, his eyes (eye?) narrowing slightly. “Only if he promises not to hurt me.”

The shock (and appreciation) Sokka's feels at being recognized as a threat never quite voices itself as tilts his head back and his eyes catch on the ceiling. The ceiling that is currently _shaking_. Sokka freezes.

“Katara,” he says slowly, “Katara, the cave — the ceiling, it's shaking — I think you should stop!”

She doesn't. “Did Zuko put you up to this?” 

Sokka glances up at the ceiling, which has started trembling more violently. Little bits of rock are falling onto his shoulders. He catches a glimpse of Zuko, surprised to see something that looks akin to fear travel across his features. Momo crouches into Zuko's hair, darting wide, freaky glances around the cave. 

“ _No._ Katara, _I’m_ _fine_ , just stop attacking the wall! It looks like the ceiling is gonna —”

He's cut off when a pile of rocks slips from the roof of the cave and collapse on top of him. There's a shout Sokka registers as _"Uncle!"_ and another that registers as _"Sokka!"_ , but he can't do anything more than grunt in pain.

He's _so_ owed a massage after this. 

There's a confused mix of shouting happening on the other side of the wall, and for the brief moment before he tunes back in to make out whatever the words actually are, Sokka dreams of what it would be like to fall asleep there, with these rocks as his blanket, and the responsibility of having to constantly deal with whatever else the universe has in store for them lifted from his shoulders the way Appa lifts into the sky. He lays there, in as blissful a state as he can be in while being crushed by rocks in the same room as the fire-shooting man who has tracked him and his friends all over the world, and then Katara yells his name. "SOKKA!" Katara shouts. “Oh, Aang, what do you think happened? Do you think Zuko got him? Oh _no_ SOKKA —”

“ _Katara_ ,” Sokka grits out, wincing as he pulls himself up and out of the rocks, "I'm _fine_. Zuko didn't attack me, the ceiling did." The thought that their enemy is bearing first-hand witness to his failures as a leader, his inability to get these _two_ _kids_ to listen to him, makes him want to scream. But when Sokka turns around, Zuko isn't even paying attention to him. He's shaking, and shouting at the cave-in as if daring it to fight him.

“UNCLE!” Zuko shouts, “I'm going to get to you, Uncle!” 

Sokka groans. “We _just_ went through this — are you kidding me —”

Zuko shoots a fistful of fire at the wall. 

“Stop it, STOP IT!” Sokka screeches, waving his arms angrily. Momo darts away from Zuko's flames, leaping up onto Sokka's shoulder and chattering angrily. “That’s not helping AT ALL.”

Zuko lets out another punch of fire. 

Maybe if Sokka screams loudly enough his headache will go away. “What are you _doing?_ That's what got us into this mess in the first place! If you keep it up, the whole cave might collapse!”

Zuko stops attacking the wall, but he holds the fire in his hands, breathing heavily. 

"I think we should stop trying to get through the wall," Sokka says slowly, carefully, his words aimed at everyone in the cave. There's a pause. 

"Are you sure, Sokka?" Katara asks. 

Sokka looks at Zuko, whose back is turned to him, and then to Momo, giant eyes as unnerving as ever. He shouldn't have looked at Momo. "Yes. We'll meet when we get out of the cave. It'll be fine." 

"Okay, Sokka," Aang says, "we trust you!" 

"I'll see you guys soon, alright?" Sokka says. 

“Yes!” Aang yells back, “But Sokka, don’t hurt Zuko, okay? As a favor, to me?”

Sokka rolls his eyes. “Seriously, Aang? Zuko's, like, the ultimate jerk. You sure I can't get a few Boomerang throws in?”

“Sokka, please! For me! Don’t hurt him.”

Warily, Sokka eyes the other boy. Zuko’s chest is moving in time with the brightness of the fire in his hands, rising and falling steadily, head turned away from Sokka. He frowns. “I'll promise if he promises.”

Zuko doesn't turn around. 

"I promise," Sokka grits out, "on _Boomerang_ , that I won't hurt Zuko. As long as Zuko promises not to hurt me."

Zuko turns around to face him, gaze glancing over Sokka's face (and avoiding Momo, Sokka notes) before he looks away again. The flames flare up before calming down again.

"Fine," Zuko spits. "Fine. I promise I won't hurt you, _as long_ as you don't hurt me." 

Sokka raises an eyebrow. "Hey, that's great and all, but _I_ promised on Boomerang. You need to promise on something too, or it's not a real promise."

"You just made that up!" Zuko yells.

Sokka shrugs. He did. "What'll it be?"

Zuko closes his eyes. "I don't have anything to promise on," he hisses. 

Sokka waits.

"I _don't,_ " Zuko repeats, "have _anything_. And it shouldn't _matter_ , because you _made that up_ and _I already promised_." The fire in Zuko's hands burns more brightly, and Sokka decides more pressing isn't worth the risk. 

"Alright, Aang," Sokka says, not loosening his hold on Boomerang and giving Zuko a short nod, "we've promised." 

"See you soon, nephew!" Zuko's uncle calls over the starting notes of a passionate rendition of _Secret Tunnel_.

"Thanks, Sokka!" Aang yells, "You won't regret this!" 

The song (and presumably, Aang and Katara, too) fades into the distance, and as Sokka and Zuko are left alone, he has a feeling that he very, very much will. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why did zuko not promise on his honor? ohoho its because he still doesnt realize he has it ;'(( you can find me on tumblr @sappho-and-stars !! i'll try to be more consistent w updating; i just moved cities and have settled in now, so im definitely not as stressed as i was before, and hopefully that will translate to more posting! till next time <3 <3 <3


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is only half of chapter 3 -- not sure how to show that on ao3 but i wanted to post something since it's been so long :')

“Well,” Sokka starts, turning to the open stretch of tunnel, “I guess we should get going. I’ll go first, and —”

“No,” Zuko holds his palm of fire between them and scowls, “ _ I’ll  _ go first. Why would you go first?”

“Because I don’t trust you,” Sokka snaps, “that’s why.” 

Momo loops himself around Sokka’s shoulders.

“Well,  _ I _ don’t trust  _ you _ . And  _ I’m _ the only one here with light, so I’m going first.  _ You _ can’t see without me.”

Zuko  _ does  _ have a point. Sokka exhales through his nose, the way he sometimes sees Aang doing. The kid has  _ loads _ of calm. Maybe Sokka could snag some so he doesn’t combust one day out of pure frustration. “Fine,” Sokka says, “Fine. We’ll just have to walk forward together, then. That way  _ neither _ of us is ahead.”

Zuko scowls again and doesn’t respond. But he turns towards the tunnel, palm of fire in front of him. Sokka places himself on Zuko’s left, resolutely refusing to look at the other boy as they step forward in tandem. 

The cave’s ceiling is comfortably high, but the walls are damp and dark and the ground is slippery. The flame from Zuko’s palm reflects around the cave walls, but there’s always a point in the tunnel the light can’t reach, and Sokka just knows there’s going to be a cave monster hiding in the dark. 

There always is. 

After a few minutes of walking, of silence other than Momo chattering unstoppably into Sokka’s ear, Sokka decides he’s had enough. But he doesn’t very much feel like making small talk with the prince of the enemy. So. “How did you find us?” 

Zuko doesn’t flinch at the question. “It was an accident,” he responds stiffly. “My uncle and I are headed to Omashu to find a friend of his, and this tunnel is the fastest way to get there.”

“Your uncle has friends?”

Zuko shrugs. “I think all old people just know each other.”

“Hm.” 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Unce had first told him of his plan for them to visit a friend of his in Omashu, Zuko had grumbled and complained and seriously decided running away on an ostrich-horse. The walk from the town they’d been in leading to the Secret Tunnel had exhausted both of them, but Zuko refused to show weakness around his companion. But, had he known the trip would result in his being trapped underground with only the Water Tribe boy for company, he would have stolen an ostrich-horse himself and galloped his way back to some random Earth Kingdom village, where maybe he would have met a kind girl who would take him in and introduce him to her family and they would run away into the sunset together. A choking sound from behind him reminds him of just how far away from that dream he was. 

Zuko glances quickly behind him. Sokka. That was the boy’s name. Sokka. 

“Let me know when you’ve finished, Sokka,” Zuko says. Sokka only groans. 

Zuko no longer knows how long they’ve been walking. It’s hard to tell time in the dark underbelly of the mountain, but even so, Zuko knows it’s been too long since he’s slept. The flame cupped in his hand stretches eerie shadows across the walls, cutting through the darkness that surrounds them. Zuko looks over at Sokka suspiciously as the light flickers a bit. He won’t let his guard down, especially not when he keeps nodding off, his eyesight blurring, leaving open dangerous intervals during which Sokka could  _ attack him ---  _

The stone floor of the cave is cold on his skin, and Zuko  _ yells _ , sending out a spiral of fire around him. 

“I KNEW I COULDN'T TRUST YOU,” he shouts, flames growing taller and taller around him. 

“ _ YOU _ CAN’T TRUST  _ ME _ ?” Sokka screeches, “YOU’RE THE  _ MANIAC _ THAT JUST FELL AND SCREAMED!”

“ _ You _ attacked  _ me _ .”

“Did  _ not.” _

“Yes, you did! You pushed me and I fell!”

“No,  _ you _ tripped over your own feet because you fell asleep while walking.  _ Again _ .”

Zuko’s chest is heaving. Despite the fire around him, it feels like he’s trapped underwater, and he can’t breathe, he can’t he can’t he  _ can’t _ \-- 

He throws one last glare at Sokka before backing away and running down the tunnel the way they came.

“Great. Just, just great.” 

  
Sokka watches Zuko’s form - and fire - flee down the path back towards the cave-in. On the plus side, he’s now fire-less and fire prince-less. On the bad side - he’s now fire-less, and fire prince-less. He can’t see, and Aang, that wonderful pacifist, will kill him. 

“Am I missing --” 

And he’s Momo-less, too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway yes our bois are still stuck in this tunnel. and will be. for so, so long. i've gotta say that i have a feeling my updates will continue to be sporadic, but i'll do my best! love to u all <3

**Author's Note:**

> hi! that's the first chapter, much more to come! comments and kudos are appreciated (i think that's what i see ppl write here haha), and you can find me on tumblr @sappho-and-stars !! feel free to drop by to chat or just say hello! :) 
> 
> (also yes, the "grouchy, easily angered, positively crazed fire bending maniac shooting flames at them all" is zuko, and the "old man sitting cross-legged on the ground, taking sips of tea" is 100% iroh


End file.
